Florence or Cinque Terre

It depends on your interests, and on the weather as well....although I know you can't plan ahead for that!

IMHO, Florence has a wonderful, reasonably compact historic center that's easily explored on foot. Its plethora of churches and museums also offer indoor sightseeing if the weather doesn't cooperate.

Cinque Terre is a draw for hikers, and its picturesque but tiny-to-small villages can be overrun with day trippers during high season. One of the advantages of NOT being one of those is to be able to enjoy the early morning and evening hours when they've gone so it's often recommended that visitors book at least one night. You will need to use the regional rail system, ferries (in the warmer seasons) and your own two feet to get around, and it's not a great choice for a rainy day.

But granted, the CT would be much closer to your port than Florence, which would be at least two hours or more EACH WAY from La Spezia + transport time between train staton to port. The CT would enable you to pretty much hit the ground running so in this case, I might advise choosing that one

So when are you traveling, and what are you most interested in doing/seeing on your free day?

In one day, I wouldn't subject myself to the travel to Florence and back. 5 Terre (or Lerici) are better options to me.

Hi Kathy,
Thank you for your feedback. We are traveling in early November. I travel for history, culture, cuisine and vistas and that's why I struggle to pick an area :). I love hearing opinions as this is so difficult for me to decide.

Early November is a bit dicey in the Cinque Terre due to the weather. It may be chilly and rainy. The train to Florence is ~2hours each way, but even in inclement weather, it is a joy to visit. One other option is to look at the city of Lucca which is ~1 hour to 1.5 hours train ride (depending upon timing) and can give you a nice glimpse of the Tuscany. I don’t know what the weather is in November, so you would have to take a look at that to see if Lucca is worthwhile then.

FLORENCE by a mile

Decisions, decisions, eh? :O)
You wouldn't happen to know what time you need to be back at port? Do you also know what day of the week you'll be traveling? If Florentine museums are of interest, most of the biggies are closed on Mondays.

But another thing to consider is the VAST amount of that glorious art and architecture in Florence; you would only have a handful of hours to cover ground in a fascinating city that deserves much, much more than that, especially if wishing to, say, poke your nose into the mighty Uffizi, the duomo complex, etc. Some museums are also requiring advance, timed-entry reservations, although that might not be as necessary in November. Just my humble two cents. With any luck, you could give Florence some quality attention on a future trip?

I have slept in Florence, but not visited CT. I have taken an "Islands of the West Med" cruise in October. It was already past shoulder season, and many waterfront businesses were closed in ports. I would not ride two hours each way to Florence, but if I did, I would use the expensive ship-excursion so that a late return is their problem and the ship will not leave without me. This is a dilemma. Please tell us what the ship offers, even if you don't want to pay for it.

What cities have you visited in Italy already? Which did you like the best?

Florence is a 3 hour journey one way, when everything is said and done.
November may not be the best weather for the Cinque Terre, so you have to wait and see. If the weather is nice and sunny (climate is changing after all), I would visit the Cinque Terre or Porto Venere.
If the weather is the typical early November weather (I.e. rain) I would consider visiting Lucca and/or Pisa instead. You would save at least one hour each way compared to going to Florence.

How about another option? Pisa. It’s closer to the port than the other cities, and has the “field of miracles”, which is actually quite a bit more than one slightly leaning wonky tower. The baptistery is quite amazing. Lovely duomo. Couple of museums. And I even found the grave of a very important mathematician there, Fibonacci!!!

You’re a direct 30-minute train ride from Monterosso (Cinque Terre) and you’re asking if you should go, heck yes you should go; this is a no brainer. I’m not sure if the ferry will be in service but if not take the train to get around. Most likely the train schedule will operate hourly instead of every 15-minutes but do try to spend time in both Monterosso and Vernazza at least. Hopefully this means you’ll have fewer crowds.